


More Than Just Surviving

by xxreaperxx94



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Bloodshed, F/F, F/M, Fighting, M/M, Major character death - Freeform, Minor Character Death, Post-Apocalypse, Post-Undertale Pacifist Route, Raiders, Survival, Zombie AU, scavenging, settlers - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-05
Updated: 2020-08-11
Packaged: 2021-02-28 20:00:15
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,761
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23022865
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xxreaperxx94/pseuds/xxreaperxx94
Summary: Peyton grit her teeth, watching warily as a group of undead limped past her small hiding spot. The small broom closet was barely larger than a standard locker – hardly enough room in there for her much less her new friend. The child hunkered down with her, trembling and clinging to her worn shirt until their knuckles turned white. Peyton shifted again, careful not the let her finger tighten on the trigger of her gun. Accidentally setting it off now was sure to get them both killed.“Just hold on, Frisk. We’re gonna make it out of this.”
Relationships: Sans (Undertale)/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 14
Kudos: 52





	1. Scavvers be Scavving

**Author's Note:**

> No one yell at me. I know I already have two fics on here that I don't update regularly no matter how many times I say I'll try to. And I definitely have no business whatsoever adding a third one to the mix. 
> 
> But I have writers block and watched way too much Black Summer and The Walking Dead and this idea just wouldn't leave me alone no matter how much I begged it to. T-T So I said screw it and decided I'd give it a try. At the very least it switching between this one and my other two may help with my blocks a little bit.
> 
> So here ya go! If I make any mistakes or contradict myself please yell at me lol. I've been running on very fitful sleep and a poor diet of potato chips and green tea. :)

Peyton grit her teeth, watching warily as a group of undead limped past her small hiding spot. The small broom closet was barely larger than a standard locker – hardly enough room in there for her much less her new friend. The child hunkered down with her, trembling and clinging to her worn shirt until their knuckles turned white. Peyton shifted again, careful not the let her finger tighten on the trigger of her gun. Accidentally setting it off now was sure to get them both killed.

“Just hold on, Frisk. We’re gonna make it out of this.”

The kid nodded their head but still refused to let go of her, eyes never leaving the door. Peyton swallowed the rising lump in her throat and continued to listen. The moans and gurgles continued, getting louder instead of quieter like she’d expected. Damn. There must have been a herd. How could she have missed them when she was coming here? Hell, if she’d known any of this was going to actually happen she would have stayed far away from the damn city to begin with.

It was easy to play science fiction off as just that: fiction. What you don’t expect is for it to actually happen. It was hard to believe that monsters had existed all this time. But now there was something even harder to believe. Not long after the breaking of the barrier and the monster ascension, there came about a virus. This particular virus targeted the brain and the nervous system. Symptoms started out like a cold; fever, cold sweat, muscle aches, the works. Then it started taking a turn for the worst. Once the seizures started it was too late. The carrier would start to bleed from the eyes, nose, mouth, and ears – before finally succumbing to the deadly disease. It killed thousands. But that was only half of the problem. Before the bodies were even cold, they started to get back up again. Of course, the first thing people did was blame the monsters. After all, the virus appeared right after they came above ground. What no one realized was that when the dead started attacking, they weren’t just attacking humans but monsters as well. It wasn’t long before everything turned to chaos and the entire world went to shit. At this point you couldn’t tell which race had it worse. On one hand, if a human was bitten or scratched they would turn into one of the undead themselves. But for monsters, the disease was 100% fatal. Guaranteed death within the first 24 hours of infection. 

Another whimper shook Peyton from her thoughts and she wrapped her free arm around the trembling child. Sooner or later they were going to have to get out of here, but the real question here was how. If she was by herself then it would be simple enough to sneak her way through the crumbling buildings and ruins to the outskirts of the city and make a hasty retreat. How the hell was she supposed to do that with a petrified kid attached to her hip?

The kid had been so quiet up until now that the quivering voice almost started her. “They’re leaving.”

Sure enough, majority of the herd had finally passed by their cramped hiding place. Only a few stragglers were managing to hobble and crawl past to follow along with the rest. That’s one aspect of the dead that had always concerned Peyton the most. For being blind and almost completely desensitized, they always seemed to have some sense of direction and always knew how to find more of their kind. She reached for the handle slowly, pausing to listen for the telltale shuffle of feet on concrete. Nothing. Silence. Her hand pushed on the door slowly, barely moving in her attempt to keep the hinges from squeaking and alerting the herd. Frisk’s grip on her shirt tightened as she slowly inched the door open, leaning forward just enough to get a good look down the hall of the dilapidated building. The sounds of the herd shuffling along still echoed in the otherwise silent building, but the sound was getting quieter. They were moving away. 

Peyton released a quiet breath, feeling the tension in her body relax marginally. She looked down at the wide-eyed child and gave them a resolute nod of her head before reaching down to untangle the small fingers from her shirt. Frisk stiffened and scrambled to reattach their hands to the fabric.

“Hey.” Peyton whispered sharply. She knelt down and grabbed thin shoulders, looking to scared kid in the eyes. “I’m not going to leave you. But if you hold my shirt like that then I can’t walk properly. I need you to take a breath and calm down. Okay?” 

Frisk took a long shaky inhale of breath and released it as quietly as they could. Peyton watched with mild surprise as the kid closed their eyes, hands clenching at their side, and their body stopped trembling all at once. Brown eyes opened again and looked up at her with a determination she didn’t know many children to have. 

“Good?”

They nodded.

“Okay. Hold my hand. Do not under any circumstanced let go unless I tell you to. Go it?” 

The nodded again. The redhead took a moment to ground herself, thanking whoever or whatever was watching over her lately that this kid had the common sense to listen and stay quiet. She didn’t know what she’d do if they were a screamer. She held her hand out, letting the child’s small fingers intertwine with hers, and stepped out cautiously into the hallway. 

What might at one time have been a nice apartment complex now lay in ruins around them. Windows broken in left shards of glass sprayed around them on the tile floor. Knocked over and torn up furniture was haphazardly strewn around and most of the doors lining the hallways were left wide open or torn off their hinges entirely. Peyton glanced past the room she’d been searching earlier with a frown, glancing down at the kid that had stumbled upon her and led a horde of infected right into the building. Who knew what they were doing out here in the first place, alone no less! Either they were lucky to have survived on their own for this long or somewhere out there a group was missing an adventurous kid. 

They shuffled along until they got to the front door, the glass panes now shattered from when the infected forced their way in. Peyton swallowed and released a harsh breath, looking down at Frisk. The kid looked from the door to her face, then back to the door again and looked down at the floor, suddenly looking bashful. The redhead quirked a smile and rolled her eyes. If the kid had smashed the glass or tried to forced the doors open then that could have been the sound that attracted the horde. She stepped carefully over the shards, tensing when her some of the larger pieces snapped or splintered when she put her weight on them. She stretched her leg out, adding a bit more weight to make sure her foot wasn’t going to slide, and turned to grab onto Frisk. She picked the kid up under their arms, lifting them easily and swinging them over the scattered glass to stand on the other side of the door. With a quiet grunt Peyton hefted herself onto her outstretched foot and stepped quickly away from the shards, adjusting her hand on her pistol and taking their hand once more before hurrying down the sidewalk. She’d been through this part of the city enough times to know that if they kept down this road that it would lead them right to the outskirts where a settlement had set up.

“Why were you out here?”

Again, the words startled the woman. Her steps faulted for a beat before she picked up her stride once more, keeping an eye on the buildings around them for signs of raiders or infected.

“Scavenging.”

A beat of silence passed before the kid spoke up once more. “For supplies?”

“Yes.”

Out of the corner of her eye, Peyton could see them looking around at the buildings that surrounded them.

“Did you live here?”

She resisted the urge to sigh, relenting a bit and actually looked down at the kid. They couldn’t have been any older than 10. They were on the smaller side but seemed to have an intelligence and level of understanding that would indicate someone who was older. But a kid was still just a kid. And kids always got too bored or too curious for their own good. 

“No.”

“Where did you live then?”

Peyton actually did sigh this time. “A long way from here. A small town where people tried to barricade themselves in and hole up. I know my way around here because I come through often to look for supplies and food that might have been overlooked by looters and raiders.” 

“Is that where we’re going?”

“That place was overrun. It doesn’t exist anymore as far as I know.” She checked around the edge of a partially fallen corner store, pausing to check both ways down the street before tightening her grip on the small hand before making the small sprint to the other side. Another pause, another quick sweep of the surrounding building, then they started walking once more. “We’re going to another settlement. It’s not far from where are now. We should be seeing the wall soon.”

Frisk’s suddenly lit up and she opened her mouth to speak once again. A distinctly metallic click went off behind them and the kid stopped, turning their head to follow the noise. Peyton knew that sound. It was one she was very familiar with. It was the same sound her handgun made when she cocked it back and took aim just before she pulled the trigger because in the silence that noise could attract attention as well as a gunshot. She acted quick. Pivot on one heel, pull the other leg back, ground both feet and raise the gun in her hand in the direction the sound came from. Her other hand pulled the small child behind her. 

“Heh. Is that any way to greet a new pal?”


	2. With Friends Like These...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We have a tense standoff with our new 'pal'!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm starting to like cliffhangers and understand why people use them! But I'm not going to do that here! :) So no worries. This chapter is a little short but next chapter is going to be as long as my usual ones!

“Heh. Is that any way to greet a new pal?”

The redhead scowled at the skeleton half concealed behind the wreckage of an old car, rifle in hand and aimed right for her. Her gun was equally trained on him. Dammit! She should have known better than to let herself get distracted! If she’d told the kid to be quiet and pay attention instead of answering some stupid questions then this wouldn’t have happened! She was never this sloppy!

“I’m no ‘pal’ of yours ‘friend’.” Peyton remarked snidely, tightening her finger over the trigger by a hair. “What do you want?”

The monster shrugged, looking entirely nonchalant for the situation. She had to hand it to him, the guy had one hell of a poker face. “Heard some voices. You never know who could be lurking around out here.” 

“Seriously? Do you always crack jokes during a standoff?”

“What’s the harm? I figured I’d give it a shot. Don’t tell me I missed the mark. If that’s the case I’ll have to try harder. I always aim to please.” 

Peyton glared, not at all amused. “Enough with the jokes. What do you want?”

His smile dropped a little. Not much, but a little. Eyelights dimmed as they looked her over. “Fine. You heading for the settlement?”

“So what if I am?”

“Then I’m gonna have to ask you what your business is there.”

“And I’m going to tell you that it’s none of your business.”

The smile was gone now and his gun was raised just a little higher. Likewise, Peyton straightened her arm and tightened her grip just a bit more. They stared at each other, blue eyes and pale eyelights locked. The hand she held tight slackened a bit and the child shuffled to move around her. Peyton tightened her grip and pushed back to keep the kid behind her. The skeletons eyes followed the movement and his sockets narrowed.

“Saw you had a kid with you. Who is it?”

“I do believe I said none of your business.”

“Well, that was for a different question, wasn’t it?”

Peyton scowled. “Are you always this much of a smartass?”

“Depends. Are you always this suspicious?”

“When someone has a gun trained on me? Yes.”

Frisk yanked their hand out of her grip and stepped away before Peyton could reach for them again. The change was instantaneous. A smile grew on the kids face and a straight up glare grew on the monsters. His eyelights disappeared and Peyton felt the hairs on her arms stand on end. 

“Why do you have Frisk?”

“You know this kid?”

There was another click as his phalanges tapped the trigger. “I said…what are you doing with Frisk?”

The growl that emanated from him was completely different from the smooth baritone that he spoke with originally, all joking and jovial mood now completely gone. Again, something in the redhead threw warnings up in her brain and her body responded in kind. At this point in time all she wanted to do was run. Even in the midst of a herd of infected she’d never felt this kind of primal fear overtake her body. Before she could even think of swallowing the sudden lump in her throat to respond the kid next to her spoke up, voice louder than she’d ever heard it. 

“Wait, Sans!” Frisk stepped in front Peyton, much to the surprise of both her and the monster. “She’s a friend! She saved me from a herd!”

Yeah, one that you led right into the damn building… the redhead frowned, torn between pulling the kid out of the line of fire and letting them diffuse the situation. The skeleton looked back up at Peyton, his eyelights back in place and a significantly softer expression on his skull, though his sockets were still narrowed at her in suspicion.

“Is that so?” He asked. Even with the words coming right from the kid he sounded skeptical at best. “You often take on a whole herd to save someone you don’t know?”

“We hid in a closet until they got passed us and we snuck our way out here.” 

Frisk frowned and looked back up at her. 

Peyton frowned right back at them. “What? You make me sound like Captain America or something. What sane person would actually take on an entire herd?”

The kid rolled their eyes and turned back to Sans, crossing their arms. “Come on. She helped me and even brought me back. Put the gun down.”

“Sorry kid. Not until she does.” He responded.

She scoffed. “You expect me to trust you not to shoot me anyway? No offense, but I don’t know you. The only thing I know is that you were ready to shoot me with my back turned. That sort of thing doesn’t exactly inspire trust.”

“Listen, I’ve got my reasons for–.”

“Don’t we all.” She raised an eyebrow, thoroughly unimpressed with whatever speech he was about to cook up. She’d heard them all by now. 

Frisk sighed and took another step towards the monster. “Sans. Please. She won’t shoot.” The kid suddenly turned to Peyton. “Right? We promise?”

Brown doe eyes stared up at her. Imploring. Begging. Willing her to cooperate and take a chance. But she’d taken chances before. And they always came back to bite her in the ass. The kid seemed alright though. A little too trusting of strangers, but alright just the same. And if they were willing to stand down the barrel of a rifle (even if they were a little too short to impede the shot) then maybe the people she knew weren’t as bad either. 

“I better not regret this, kid.” She muttered. One last look at the watchful skeleton and she slowly lowered the pistol. “I promise I won’t shoot you. Happy now?”

He watched her with mild surprise and what she could only guess was either confusion or curiosity. “I could’ve done without the sarcasm, but I’ll take it. If the kid vouches for you then there must be something good in there somewhere.”

She bristled slightly at the jab, only taking her eyes off the monster to scowl at Frisk when they gave a light chuckle at the remark. The skeleton lowered his rifle and stepped out from behind the wreckage. Now that he wasn’t concealed by gnarled metal and rust, Peyton was actually able to get a decent look at him. Baggy black cargo pants sloppily tucked into a pair of faded and scuffed work boots. Some kind of blue hoodie a few sizes too big draped over his bones, held a little tighter by an ammo strap cast over one shoulder and the straps of a backpack of some kind clinging to his shoulders. A blue beanie sat snuggly on his skull, the rim coming to just above his sockets. She couldn’t say that her clothes were in much better condition, but atleast they fit for the most part. 

He walked up to her and held out a hand towards her, grin set back in place, though his face still held some tension. “Sorry about that. Can’t be too careful. The name’s Sans. Sans the skeleton.”

Peyton looked at his outstretched hand but instead of taking it just straightened the straps of her backpack on her shoulders. “Peyton. And no, you can’t be too careful.”

He let his hand drop but didn’t comment on it, instead turning to the now smiling child standing next to them. “What are you doing out here anyway? I thought Toriel said no more trips outside the wall.” 

Frisk suddenly paled and fiddled with their hands. “About that…” 

“Sneaking out again?” At the silence he received, Sans sighed and rubbed a hand tiredly down his face. “You can’t keep doing this, Frisk. It’s getting too dangerous out here, especially if you’re going alone.”

“I used to go out alone by myself all the time!”

“When things weren’t trying to kill and eat you.” He grimaced and narrowed his sockets at the flustered kid. “You don’t even know how to shoot a gun, Frisk.”

“It’s not my fault mom and dad won’t teach me!”

“I hate to break up this lovely reunion, but we’re still standing here in the middle of the street with a herd a few blocks away.” Peyton spoke up, gesturing back in the direction they’d originally been coming from. 

The two managed to look somewhat sheepish. The redhead rolled her eyes and did another quick scan of the area, finger still on the trigger of her pistol. They were close enough to the settlement that it probably wouldn’t be an issue, but she’d already taken one too many chances today and she wasn’t about to take another. She took point, walking ahead of the other two and making quick sweeps as she went. Surprisingly, Sans fell into step beside her, keeping his rifle raised and at the ready. 

“Frisk, you walk between us and keep up.” Peyton ordered. She didn’t need to look back to know that they’d followed in line. So far, they’d proven to be exceptionally smart and well versed in following instructions. Well, all instructions other than staying within the walls of the settlement apparently. 

For a moment she expected them to remain silent until they finished the short walk to the entrance, but a second later she was proven wrong when the skeleton spoke up once more.

“What were you doing out here on your own anyway?”

She rolled her eyes, not bothering to cover up her irritated sigh in front of the frustrating monster. “Scavenging.” 

“You do that often?”

“Yes.”

Frisk chuckled and spoke in a low tone that Peyton suspected wasn’t meant for her to hear. “She doesn’t talk all that much. You get used to it.”

“Really? I never would have guessed. Had her pegged as a regular chatterbox.”

She was seriously considering taking back her promise and shooting him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note that I'm not used to using gender neutral pronouns like what is usually done for Frisk so if anyone sees that I may have mistakenly wrote female pronouns then feel free to yell at me! I will correct them if I miss any! Apologies in advance, it's a habit to use male/female pronouns only because that's simply what I'm used to writing in!


	3. Cherry Bomb

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peyton survives the rest of the walk with Sans and Frisk to make it to South End settlement.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been sick as a dog for the last two days and my power was out for most of the afternoon today due to a bad storm, but hey! It gave me the time and inspiration I needed to crank out a few really late chapters!

South End settlement was once what Peyton assumed to be some kind of strip mall. A long one story building that ran the length of the beat up parking lot. It was relatively small, only 5 shops linked together and a lot that would only hold maybe 20 cars. However the people of the settlement were handy. A wall had been built that encompassed the parking lot and shielded the front end of what was either a small apartment or office building. A landing was attached to the front ‘gate’ that had people regularly patrolling and calling out undead or survivors to the people within. Over the years the wall had been fortified and extended, now standing maybe 8 feet tall with metal rebar pointing outward from the sides. A few undead were currently stuck to some of the rebar and blearily reaching for the door or scratching at the bits of wall they could reach. Peyton wrinkled her nose at the smell and stood at the door, looking up and waiting for a lookout. 

“How long has it been since you’ve been in here?”

She spared Sans a glance before looking back up at the top of the gate. “A couple months maybe. Why?”

“Because of this.” He strode past her and gave the solid metal sheeting a few knocks, paused, then added one heavier knock. 

The door opened a crack and a haggard face peered out at them. “Sans? Didn’t you just go out a little bit ago? What are you doing back?”

“Ran into a scavver and walked her back here. I’ll head back out once I see that Frisk gets back home.” He answered with an easygoing shrug. 

The man peered over at Peyton with a grimace. “We stopped admitting scavvers. Sorry, friend. Too many accidents and shootings happening inside the walls.”

The redhead scowled over at Sans before turning her glare back on the man. “I’m not a scavver. I was doing a run for Fuku and got cut off by a herd. I don’t come here often but Muffet gives me a place to crash before I can head out again.”

The man’s eyes widened before he opened the door. “Oh, sorry about that. I didn’t know you were friends with the folks here. I was just told to keep out anyone that doesn’t live within the walls.”

“Don’t worry about it.” She sighed and strode past him into the settlement. 

Things looked a little different in the months since she’d been here. Everything was still grimy, but it was a little cleaner. The walls along the inside were more defined and reinforced by the cars that once littered the lot or served as the occasional bed for travelers and scavengers. More lookout posts were built on top of the strip mall and a few people and monsters currently sat up top with guns at the ready as they surveyed the area. The guy at the gate said that there’d been shooting and accidents or something when they let in newcomers. Guess they weren’t taking any chances. Great. How long before they wouldn’t even let her in anymore either?

“You’re friends with Fuku?”

Startled out of her thoughts, Peyton looked down at the child that continued to follow her. Sans also wasn’t far behind, nodding to a few of the people that greeted him. The redhead shrugged as she continued towards the far corner of the wall next to the taller building that made up housing for the settlers. 

“I guess so. We’ve known each other for a few years now. Her and her dad used to have a trading hub set up on the other side of town, but they set up shop here once raiders started setting up territories around the marina near there. I started scrounging for Fuku on my outings in exchange for ammo and the occasional weapon.”

“Oh! I’ve heard her talk about you! But I think she called you–!”

“Cherry Bomb! Hey, it’s been awhile!”

Peyton grimaced and gave her most unimpressed look to the purple red-eyed monster. “Really Skate? Still?”

“What? You would prefer Bombshell?” She chuckled and adjusted the baseball cap on her head, pulling one of the purple tendrils that made up her ‘hair’ out of her face. She crossed her arms and cracked a wide smile. “Cause that won’t make the sickos around here go nuts.”

“Ugh. Don’t even think about it.” The redhead sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. There were already a few onlookers eyeballing her. She tightened her grip on her pistol and shot them a scowl with enough heat to make them look away. Fucking creeps. She still didn’t know why they were allowed to stay in here. 

“Wait a second, you’re Cherry Bomb?” Sans snickered. He gave her a more appraising look, his suspicion turning to amusement. “You’ve gotta be kidding me. Oh kid, the stories I’ve heard about you.”

“I made good on my promise not to shoot you. Don’t make me take it back.” 

“All good things, I promise!” The skeleton snorted and held up his hands in a gesture to pacify her rapidly darkening mood. “From what I hear, you used to be a…heh…never mind…” He trailed off at the scathing look he was receiving and felt a shiver travel up his spine and settle into the vertebrae of his neck. He quickly turned back to Skate. “Anyway, you seen the Queen around?”

“Yeah, she went tearing through town earlier for something. Don’t know what. Last I saw she was back up in the apartments with Undyne.”

Frisk visibly paled and stiffened next to Peyton. Sans sighed and took off his beanie, running his bony hand over the top of his skull and down his face. 

“Well, looks like you’ve been had Frisk. Better go diffuse that bomb before she takes off through the city looking for you.”

“Uh…yeah. Right. Diffuse.” Frisk cleared her throat and took off for the open double doors of the apartment building, yelling over her shoulder as she went. “Thanks, Peyton! It was nice to meet you! Thanks for not letting me get eaten!”

Peyton offered a small smile and gave a halfhearted wave after the retreating child. They weren’t too bad. For a kid at least. 

“I’m gonna head back out again before Tori decides to blame me for the kid sneaking out again.” Sans yawned and adjusted the shoulder strap of his backpack. He winked at Peyton, much to her annoyance. “See you around, Red.”

Skate snorted as he walked away and the redhead narrowed her eyes. “What are you laughing at? I could start telling the people around here your real name…”

The monster suddenly looked stricken and visibly swallowed. “Hey, now! Come on, we’re friends! You wouldn’t do that to a friend! Right?”

“I lit my last friend on fire and threw him off a building.”

“Um…okay. Not friends then.” Skate stammered slightly. “I’ll give you locations on the best scavver spots on the west side of the city free of charge?”

“Done.” Peyton agreed amicably with a smirk. “I’ll stop by after I see Fuku.”

The purple monster looked relieved and beat a hasty retreat. Peyton chuckled and continued walking past the rest of the open doors to what was once stores and salons until she stood in front of the one on the end. The glass panes that had made up the front of the store had been removed. Sheets of old plywood had been attached to the front somehow and a long rectangular window had been cut out at face height. A familiar green flame monster stood just inside against the wall in front of a folding table with a rag in hand, meticulously cleaning and field stripping a decent looking rifle. Peyton dropped her bag through the window loudly, startling the monster and catching her attention. Once they locked eyes Fuku looked thrilled.

“Peyton! It’s been months since we’ve seen you! I wasn’t sure if I was going to see you again before winter!” She strode forward and opened one of the wooden panels, this one shaped more like a door, to allow her friend inside. The seam was hidden well in the wooden pattern of the panel that if you didn’t already know it was there you’d think there wasn’t a door at all. 

“It took awhile for me to find everything you were looking for. There’s been a lot more undead inside the city center recently and I’ve had to stick to the outskirts to keep from getting pinned down.”

Fuku picked up the backpack and dumped it onto a similar table behind some metal shelving, keeping an eye on the open window cut into the plywood. “That’s what we’d been hearing from a few traders and scavvers before we shut the gates for good. I hope you didn’t have too much trouble getting in?”

“Not too much. I had a skeleton with me when I came in. I think that helped. Once I dropped your name they were more than willing to open up for me.” Peyton responded with a shrug. “Not like that would have stopped me though. I know more than a few ways inside the wall without getting caught.”

The flame monster chuckled; the sound mixed with a slight crackling that reminded Peyton of burning wood. “Typical Cherry Bomb.”

“Speaking of which. You told Skate about that?”

“Of course I did. She’s so much like you were back then, how could I not? The younger kids inside the wall like hearing about your stories too.”

“Uh huh. And one of those kids was Sans?”

That one seemed to take her by surprise. “Sans knows about that? I hadn’t told him any of your stories.”

“My guess is Skate got a little carried away with her gossiping or he overheard story time then.” Peyton shook her head.

“I’m sorry.” The flame monster frowned. “I didn’t know any of that was supposed to be a secret.”

“It wasn’t meant to be. It’s just…” The redhead sighed and crossed her arms, one of her hands running absently up to her left shoulder. “We both know how raiders are when they catch wind of stuff like that. They play games with people and settlers and I’d rather not have them heading to this part of the city.”

Fuku stiffened as she watched the action, nodding in understanding before she continued to sift through the random bits of junk and scraps before the yellow streaks of flame that made up her eyes suddenly burned brighter. “I don’t believe it! You actually found one!”

Green hands held up a twisted chunk of metal and wires, holding it as if it were the most precious resource imaginable. Fuku had given her a list and the bottom had a vague picture drawn on it that had looked similar. She was lucky that she’d found it at all while scrounging around in the basement of some half collapsed building. 

“This is fantastic! Do you know what this is?” The monster asked her excitedly.

“Um…metal?”

Fuku scoffed and shook her head, looking at her like it was the most obvious thing in the world. She stepped closer and lowered her voice, keeping an eye on the window at the front of her building. “I’ve been working on a project of sorts. Dad found most of the parts here inside the walls but most of the important pieces were missing. An old generator. He rigged some panels from one of the electronics stores at the old settlement so that it would be able to accept sunlight as a sort of power source. This was the last piece! If I hook it up correctly then South End will finally be able to have power! Actual working lights! There are so many possibilities if we can get this working! Whose to stop us from building a radio tower and being able to make contact over longer distances with other settlements?”

Peyton blinked at her excited friend, still leaning against the wall with her arms crossed. “Why are you whispering? You’re the only person here that’s smart enough to pull this off. It’s not like anyone would be able to take it and do something with it.”

Fuku groaned and threw up her arms. “Can you at least pretend that this is great news? Communication with other settlements! Long-term cohabitation! Setting up trade routes and patrols! This could be the beginning to finally getting some real structure here!”

Peyton shrugged and smiled at the exasperated monster. “Oh. I think that sounds cool I guess.”

Fuku narrowed her yellow flamed eyes at the woman and sighed. “Sometimes you’re completely impossible. You know that? Don’t come crawling to me when I make this place a central trading hub of enormous proportions and you’re still scratching around in the rubble being an antisocial scavver.”

“Not that I don’t believe you, but when that day comes I’ll kiss a corpse.”

Fuku snorted but still feigned shock and scandal. “I’ll hold you to that! Make sure you’re lips are nice and chapped! I’ll find you one of the best ones we have out there stuck to the wall!”

Peyton chuckled and barely caught the empty backpack that was thrown at her. She slung the straps back over her shoulders and accepted the cases of bullets that were handed to her. She was starting to run low and it was difficult to find ammo when raiders were picking everything clean further and further into the city. Luckily Fuku was a genius and could make them if she had the right stuff in stock. 

“I’ll be sure to do that. Just make sure if you bang around with tools in here that you’re careful. There was a herd passing nearby earlier. I’m not sure how long it’s going to be in the area, but you can’t be too careful.”

Fuku nodded and shooed her back out the panel door, giving her a quick goodbye and shutting her out. The redhead smiled fondly as she walked away, heading into the apartment building in search of a certain spider monster. She could really use a bed right about now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I like the idea of Fuku being a big brain and somewhat taking after Grillby as far as wanting to help and take care of her fellow survivors!

**Author's Note:**

> I wasn't sure how to write Peyton at first. She's not like the other characters that I've ever written before, both posted and not posted. I decided that I'd make her a bit more abrasive and something of an antisocial considering the situations she might find herself in and the environment and people she has to encounter and survive in. Hopefully no one finds her too awful, I promise she does get a little bit better eventually. :)


End file.
